netgirl_y2k

-It is impossible, I think, to discuss that episode without talking about the fact that Jaime raped Cersei in the Sept. I mean, there's no debate, that's what happened. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I read that scene in the books, and I definitely remember it as being fucked up and horrible, but I came away with the impression that it was more or less consensual.

And I just-- I'm confused by it. I don't think the show has ever known what to do with Jaime and Cersei when they're together. It can do them obsessing over each other when they're half a kingdom apart, but when they're together it doesn't know how to play it and ends up with them, really, not seeming to like each other all that much. And I don't know if this was a cack-handed attempt to show the end of their relationship, or an attempt to make Cersei more sympathetic - now, I am broadly in favour of the show's attempt to make Cersei a more well-rounded character than the books managed, but I think they were doing that quite well showing how she's both a victim of and the product of her society without resorting to this.

And what it really does is totally fuck Jaime's characterisation. Look, Jaime Lannister threw a ten year old from a tower window, he's a guy you're meant to have complicated feelings about. But sexual-violence is a deal breaker for a lot of people, including me, and there's a reason Jaime saving Brienne from being gang-raped is the big revelatory moment when the audience is meant to realise that there's more to him than meets the eye. And how are you meant to sympathise, on any level, with a guy who raped his sister next to the body of her dead child. Especially as I expect the show never to mention it again, and to carry on with Jaime's story as though he hadn't raped his sister in what is essentially a church.

I'm not offended by it in the same way a lot of people are, but I am genuinely baffled by it as an adaptation choice.

-Speaking of the show having all the subtlety of a brick through a window, Littlefinger. The only good thing about him being back is Sophie Turner and the way you can see Sansa, behind her eyes, going: ABORT. ABORT. BACK-UP WHILE I URGENTLY RECONSIDER TYRION LANNISTER.

I'm guessing what with the timing, and with next week's episode being called Oathkeeper, that Brienne is being tasked to find Sansa after all. Which is another thing that's been quite badly undermined, because there's got to be a point, several months into the Worst Roadtrip Ever where you'd find yourself thinking: damn, I should have made off with the girl during all those weeks that we were living in the same castle.

-Speaking of weird pacing issues, when we last saw Team Dragonstone at the end of S3 they were about to depart for the Wall, thus rendering themselves slightly less than totally irrelevant to the plot, to Westeros, and the universe at large. Three episodes into S4 and they are still hanging around Dragonstone burning their relatives alive, having awkward family dinners, and alternately traumatising small children and getting them to co-sign their boat loans.

Actually, I think this series is the one where the show is going to start having huge pacing/timeline issues, because some of the plotlines are still in the latter part of Storm of Swords, and some of them are on A Dance with Dragons. And because that's as far as the books go they're going to struggle with what can be dropped, and what needs to be emphasised/foreshadowed.

That said, for my epic levels of disinterest in Stannis, I long for fics about the child queen Shireen Baratheon and her hand Davos Seaworth, and their scene together was the highlight of the episode. Your father doesn't understand the finer points of bad behaviour, indeed!

-For the first time in, basically, ever, my favourite part of an episode was the Wall, partly because it had lots of lovely Sam, who is a nice man who would never rape anyone. Although I do think his decision to send Gilly and little Sam to Molestown is going to backfire horribly. You could really see Jon coming into his own as a leader, too, and I'm glad Grenn and Edd are alive. And, actually, I do kind of approve of showing Ygritte and Tormund participating fully in the slaughter of those villagers; okay, they aren't cannibals, but there's a reason the Night's Watch don't want Wildlings, any Wildlings, south of the Wall.

-Dany's storyline is starting to stagnate already, and that's only going to get worse. See my comments above about timeline/pacing issues. And Daario Naharis, blech, if I'm bored of Bronn, you can imagine how I feel about Bronn lite.

-I still think Tommen is too old (no kittens for you, King Tommen, only an awkward sex talk from gramps, probably heavily feature the topic of avoiding whores and women you're related to) but the more I think about it, as show Margaery is a good bit older than she was in the books, and as it looks like we're still heading towards a wedding there, it looks better if Tommen is at least on the cusp of adolescence. As long as they keep him as a good guy, if a bit easily led, then I'm cool.

-Meanwhile, Oberyn Martell has a bisexual orgy, which was nice; he apparently had it with his trousers on, which was not. Seriously, show, this is past ridiculous!